East of England Co-op partners with Ipswich Borough Council to boost recycling rates

The East of England Co-op has launched a new campaign with Ipswich Borough Council to encourage more recycling in Ipswich, England.

East of England Co-op said the retailer will run an in-store trial to increase awareness of items that can and can’t be recycled, and will introduce recycling points for plastic packaging, carrier bags and batteries in its 20 stores across Ipswich.

The items that can be recycled include aerosol cans, aluminium foil- must be clean and rolled into a tennis sized ball, TetraPak cartons among others.

Roger Grosvenor, Joint Chief Executive for the East of England Co-op said: “The reaction to our Co-op Guide to Dating campaign inspired us to look at other ways we can help our customers to reduce waste. Whilst doing our research we became bamboozled by the complexities and misunderstanding around recycling, and set out to do what we could to provide some clarity.”

“Our Guide to Dating has cut the amount of food we waste by 33% - that’s around 350 tonnes in just over a year. But we wanted to do more, which is why we’re introducing this pilot scheme to help our customers and members to recycle more.”

The trial will run until the middle of May 2019, before being rolled out across the whole Society.

Councillor Phil Smart from Ipswich Borough Council commented: “Reducing the amount of waste we generate is everyone’s responsibility, and it’s fantastic that the East of England Co-op are prepared to play such an active role. Helping people understand what and how they can recycle is complicated, and this partnership will be very helpful in addressing those challenges in Ipswich. Their initiative to cut food waste is an example to other stores. The less food we waste, the more we have to spend on other items and everyone gains.”